Refuge
by Tess 4 5
Summary: Thomas and Barbara had spent the day driving the coastline of Cornwall and now they've arrived in St. Ives in their refuge. They have easily escaped the posh party of Boxing Day at Howenstow and planned to stay for some lazy days in that lovely village. Will they leave the cottage and see something else than just each other? (sequel to ... Green Gem and the trip around Cornwall)
1. Here and now

**Author's notes:** I don't own any of the characters nor the original Inspector Lynley Mysteries – they belong to Elizabeth George and the BBC.

Reviews and comments are very welcome! But since I'm no native speaker please let me know if I did something terribly wrong (rating, grammar, spelling...). Thanks!

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><p>Thomas and Barbara had spent the day driving the coastline of Cornwall and now they've arrived in St. Ives in their refuge. They have easily escaped the posh party of Boxing Day at Howenstow and planned to stay for some lazy days in that lovely village. Will they leave the cottage and see something else than just each other?<p>

Umm, well, today they've spent so much time on the road that they needed a little distraction at first.

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><p>.<p>

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><p>They arrived at their destination at about six o'clock. Now it was totally dark except for the few streetlights and they experienced difficulties finding the cottage and then finding a nearby parking space. Barbara was amused that she got a little free tour through St. Ives. Finally they parked the car in an alley in the back of the cottage. Thomas handled her the keys and got the bags and the coats from the rear bench seat.<p>

"Thomas, it's lovely!" Barbara still looked around the narrow cobble-stone streets and up the cottage that was walled in. They stood in front of a wooden outside door, three steps above streetlevel.

He kissed her neck. "You both are." he mumbled on her skin, leaving a tickling feeling there.

Barbara opened the outside door, they went across a very small courtyard and stood in front of the cottage door. Thomas was a few inches behind her and whispered again onto her neck.

"Barbara, I've indeed waited impatiently and much too long to have you for my own. But am I allowed to say that it is freezingly cold now without a coat on? And the bags are getting more and more weighty. Please be so kind to open the door and let's hurry inside."

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><p>Barbara opened the door and let Thomas pass before she herself stepped in and closed the door behind her.<p>

Turning she saw that he had simply thrown their bags and coats on the floor and had turned to her with a dark and lecherous look.

With his hip he pushed her hard against the door and pressed his lips on hers. He ground his hip into hers. Barbara was so much taken by surprise that she didn't struggle. She wouldn't anyway.

Breathlessly he claimed her. "I want you! _Now_!"

He kissed her again. She rummaged his hair while their tongues fought. His hands fumbled restlessly around on her whole body. Then he broke the kiss.

"And I want you _right here_!" he growled. He allowed no objections.

Barbara's eyes were wide open. Thomas skilfully opened her jeans and nearly with the same movement he pushed her woollen jumper and her T-shirt up and over her head so she stood there just in her bra. Continuing to kiss her he pulled the jeans over her hip and without Barbara noticing it how he might have done that he got rid of his own jeans. She had started to tug at his jumper and when next breaking the kiss he pulled both his jumper and shirt off.

Thomas impatiently tried to get the clasp of her bra opened.

"Get rid of that fucking bra!" he grunted into the crook of her neck onto the green gem and then knelt down before her, licking into her bellybutton and pulling down her briefs.

With his hands on her thighs he breathed onto her nether regions. He put one hand between her legs and stroke her there, realising that Barbara was ready for him. So he stood up again, leaving his own knickers on the floor.

He ground his groin into her pelvis and kissed her again very fiercly. Overwhelmed by the feeling of his arousal against her pink button Barbara searched for support on the doorhandle and opened it accidentally. But with the frantic pressure of both of their bodies against the door they closed it again immediately. Thomas only just was of sound mind to turn the key and lock it.

They shared a deep and promising look while, like a rest period, just swaying with ther hips pressed against one another. Then he shoved her even harder against the door and kissed her wherever his lips would reach and his hands stroke her here and there and found their way again to the inner thighs and his finger even went deeper inside and curled there.

Barbara's head bumped into the door. She had her eyes closed and her hands clamped his upper arms.

Thomas bent her left leg up and without further warnings he thrusted into her.

Barbara moaned and opened her eyes in delighted shock.

Thomas increased his pace and held her bum firmly in one hand. With every thrust he made he rapidly hardened even more and he could feel her inner muscles tighten around him at increasing intervals.

Thomas opened his eyes to watch her.

Barbara had her head to the door and her eyes closed, the look of ravished surrender on her face, her lips invitingly open. She let loose a soft whimpering moan with every push he gave her. He felt her fingers tighten the grip on his arms and knew she was close. Her left leg around his thigh and ass pulled him closer to her. Then he couldn't hold anymore and enforced the grip on her bum to pull her as close as possible and with a last swift thrust and a deep groan he came inside her.

"Oh! Gods! Tom!" Barbara cried out when the orgasms washed over her. "Mmmm...!" She clenched her teeth.

He hardly recognized her fingernails deeply digged into his arms, leaving dark red traces. Continuing the rocking and with Barbara's contractions around him he came a second time.

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><p>Despite of the cold weather outside and the not yet lit fire inside the cottage both were slightly covered with tiny pearls of sweat, silent witnesses of the sexual outburst that just had overpowered them. Slowly Thomas slipped out of her, let loose of Barbara's leg and helped her to steady her balance. They were totally out of breath now.<p>

"Thomas!" she whispered exhausted and reopened her eyes. She looked utterly amazed, shattered and so very much satisfied.

He kissed her tenderly. "I'm sorry." he breathed onto her lips.

"For wha'?" she asked back between delicately kisses.

"For that ...rioting." Their foreheads bumped.

"Now, did it seem to you that it was _not_ by common accord?"

Barbara smiled contentedly and hummed on his lips, kissing him very lightly.

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><p>Standing there naked and moist with sweat they were getting cold really fast. While Thomas collected their clothes Barbara went to the toilet. He couldn't get rid of a wide grin. If that time off from Howenstow would continue like it had begun it would be a very distracting time.<p>

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><p>.<p>

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><p>...<p> 


	2. Finding the surprise

**Author's note:** The previous chapter came to my mind when I was doing all that research and a boring timetable for the trip around cornwall. At first there were too many places I'd like to show them so I had to reduce it a bit and from time to time remind me of the short december days. But my mind had already arrived in St. Ives. So, being relieved, they can get to the restaurant... sometime...

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><p>.<p>

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><p>Thomas had put some comfy clothes on and knelt before the fireplace to light it.<p>

His thoughts wandered back to when he had been hit in the face that what he felt for Barbara was more than just friendship and when he had wiped away all concerns and told her that he loves her – out of the blue for both.

The following kiss showed him that Barbara felt the same or at least something alike. But now, after those three days in Cornwall he was sure that it was mutual. He felt a stirring in his stomach rethinking of how intense everything had been. It hadn't just been the ease of handling, which he really appreciated, it was also the lovemaking. He carefully touched the claw marks on his biceps. Never would he have thought of Barbara as such a passionate woman. In his mind's eye he saw that surrendered, lustful face again, the back of her head leaning against the door.

"Ouch!"

Deep in thought he accidentally had burnt his fingertips with the match and so he lit a second one.

_I've also burnt my heart._ he thought and remembered Barbara when she woke up in his bed on Christmas Day after they made love for the first time.

Her red hair had laid messed up on the pillow and her skin had felt so wonderfully soft and still so unacquaintedly new to him, and when she had turned to him on that morning she had favoured him unintentionally with such a seducing sleepy look.

He will never forget that moment. Right then he had felt so complete. Looking in her green eyes he knew that this was the woman to wear the little emerald. It had been when he once had cleaned up his flat after Helen had died when he decided to put it in a setting. Overthinking it, it had been probably Barbara's in that hard times permanently present green eyes that made him remember the little gem then.

He chuckled. _Was I blind?_ he asked himself. She had always been around him for such a long while now, professional as his DS, personal as his best friend. He started to wonder how long it had been that _she_ was keeping that adoration as a secret. This abundance of passion she displayed now, it can't be built in – what, ten days? _And she so cutely blushes all the time._

He felt his lower regions stirring again and suddenly another thought struck him. He never thought about prevention.

_We'll have to talk._

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><p>When Barbara came back, now dressed in her woolen jumper, she found Thomas kneeling in front of the fireplace. She stopped and had a look at him. He was wearing some sweatpants, tight on his delicate bum and a T-shirt that revealed not only his biceps – <em>when did he start to work out?<em> – but also the red traces on his upper arms.

Barbara blushed.

_When did I become that ...active?_ she thought.

She leant against a wooden pillar in the middle of the room and studied him handling with the fire. It was only ten days ago when Thomas stepped across their self-imposed border, their _thin line_, ignoring all differences and difficulties there were and had yet to come. They had worked through the following days quite good without raising any suspicion at the office. Barbara had accepted his invitation to Howenstow and on December 24 they had arrived there. Barbara had felt that she really had been welcomed by the family and immediately had been integrated. And finally very late on Christmas' Eve the day passionately ended in his bed.

And she realised that she was everything but passive. Not only when it went under the sheets – that is to say _onto_ the sheets at first - but after their first night their usual bantering had somehow turned into a very flirtatious one, teasing and tender.

And she had started to search for physical contact.

_Or is he regarding it as strictly sexual? No._

Before the thought of it really formed in her mind she touched the little green gem around her neck. Now, _that_ had been not a crossed border but some gesture far beyond every expectation, far beyond every dream. It was a bond he formed that Barbara in truth was afraid of.

Sure, for a long time now - she had forgotten when it had first started or when the realisation had hit her - she had had a crush on her DI. She somehow had arranged herself with it, knowing that it would always be a single-sided thing. She had kept it in her dreams, had sometimes drowned it in her bathtub and had forbidden herself to let anyone know or suspect what her feelings were. Not even Winston, Mr. Poke-in-every-secret, had the slightest idea. She had turned into a professional modus and even displayed more sarcasm and irony. Maybe this was why she hadn't seen it coming. Without previous signs visible for her Thomas had declared his love.

_Or did I just ignore them?_ she wondered.

Barbara smiled. He had become so very different afterwards. Even in her romantic dreams she had never seen him being so cute, so like a teenager in love and at the same time like a very grown man - lustful, feverish, longing, panting for her, self-giving. She blushed deeper, feeling the tickling in her abdomen again.

_How will that go on when we're at the Met? _Barbara wondered. _Reality will strike back._

She sighed.

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><p>She hadn't realised that in the meantime Thomas had fully lit the fire, turned and watched her.<p>

"Barbara?"

She startled.

"Isn't your sweet ass getting cold?" Thomas chuckled and stood up.

Barbara glew deep red and rummaged her bag. She still had no briefs on.

With a playful smack on her naked bottom he went past her and grabbed a bottle from the table.

"Look what we have as a welcome gift – a fine Champagne." he said. "But the note here says this isn't the surprise. Well, let's go 'round, we might find it somewhere."

Thomas had been in the cottage two or three times before, so he knew where the rooms were and he showed Barbara round. On the ground floor there was the little loo, a kitchenette with dining nook and the living room, both open-plan and just seperated by wooden pillars. In the finished attic he knew of a bedroom with en-suite shower and toilet. They didn't go there because they would just live in the master bedroom on the first floor.

"I remember it to be smaller..." Thomas wondered. "And there was a second room. Must be the surprise - he had refurbished the cottage."

The master bedroom now was a huge room with a thick carpet, an enormous wardrobe made of dark wood, a small dressing table and a big solid four-poster bed with matching bedside tables. And there was much space around. They threw their bags onto the floor and Thomas put the bottle of Champagne onto the dressing table.

"I have a great idea..." he grinned.

"No, no, no!" Barbara stepped away from him. "You show me the cottage, we dress and then you take me to dinner. I'm starvin'!" Then she blushed. "'n' by the way, we've recently... we've just... I've not yet fully recovered, Thomas!"

"So I _have_ to take the advantage!" he took a step forward.

Followed by him Barbara fled across the little corridor and into the bathroom. There she stopped amazed. She didn't expect another huge room. Neither did Thomas. He couldn't remember that there was this huge shower cubicle. Also this oversized ball-and-claw bath was new to him.

"Well, this is a real surprise."

He spotted two champagne glasses with a note saying

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><p><em>Surprise, surprise...<br>Have a nice stay and feel free to use the tub!  
>*wink*wink*<br>Nathan, on behalf of Amor_

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><p>"Oh, that naughty little beggar!" Thomas laughed. "With his children grown up he had turned this cottage into a little love nest. Oh, I'm so looking forward to the next two... four... eighty... a thousand and sixty days here!"<p>

He pulled Barbara into his arms and kissed her.

"But yes," he sighed. "we'll have to eat first."

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><p>They put their clothes into that enormous wardrobe and their toiletteries where they belonged.<p>

Barbara stood in front of the wardrobe and was wondering aloud what she had to wear.

"Nothing." Thomas chuckled.

She turned, put her hands on her hips and glared at Thomas.

"Alright. Should I wear sweatpants..."

"If you wish..."

"...or should I dress up for the Savoy?!"

"If you wish..." Thomas laughed.

"Or should I slap you with my slippers?!" Barbara glared at him.

"Rrrrr...!" Thomas draped himself onto the bed, still grinning.

"You silly men, you just have to think about what tie to wear!" Barbara rolled her eyes. "...'nough to drive me to despair. Now, where do we go to? Fish'n'chip-shop?"

"No, surely _not_! But Barbara, we're just going for dinner. Nobody will care for what you're wearing. Well, except me... Your jeans and a not-so-casual top will do. It's the Kernow I've made a reservation for..." he looked on his watch and jumped up.

"Seven thirty. Alright, we're in a hurry."

They quickly took a shower and got themselves dressed, both in jeans and a _not-so-casual top._

"Oh, luckily the rain stopped." They hurried down the Wharf Road up to the West Pier and had just a short delay.

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><p>.<p>

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><p>...<p> 


	3. Dinner at the Kernow

**Author's note:** I've changed the name of the restaurant in the previous chapter, the following scenes and the staff are pure products of my imagnation and they partly don't come off well. I'm sure the original restaurant is worth a visit and I don't want to harm them. So, now it's the _Kernow_.

And sorry for the delay, but sometimes that funny thing called Real Life hits you ;-) This chapter loitered in the drawer for quite a while and I had no time for the upload.

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><p>.<p>

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><p>They walked through the door of the <em>Kernow<em> just in time for not getting wet. It had started to rain again.

"...evening!" Thomas nodded to the waiter at the entrance while opening his coat.

"Good evening... Sir! Did you make a reservation?"

Barbara very well noticed the look and the little pause he made before the _Sir_.

_Somebody else cares for what we're wearing!_ she thought. _Bloody...!_

"Yes, for sure. It's Asherton, seven thirty."

_Haha, fly guy, you took the higher one._

The waiter said an arrogant "Aha...!" through his nose and started to search his list. It visibly sunk in that he better had to be _a little_ more polite and immediately he changed his behaviour.

In the meantime Thomas helped Barbara off with her coat and then stood there waiting patiently with both coats over his arm.

"Yes, Sir, let me take your coats, Lord Asherton. And would you mind following to your table..." he waved another waiter and gave him the coats.

_Bah! Grovelling bumsucker!_ Barbara thought and syrupy simpered.

As if he had read her mind Thomas squeezed her elbow and winked. Walking to the table he held her hand.

The restaurant was well patronized. They took their seats at a table on the first floor right at a window overlooking the harbour.

"Beautiful view!" Barbara admired.

Thomas put his reading spectacles on.

"Beautiful view!" Barbara admired in his direction and went rosy.

"What?" Thomas asked irritated.

"Your specs." Now she blushed. "You look so... cute."

Thomas made a smiling chortle and shook his head. "Now, when you reach my age..."

"Dear me...!"

They studied the menu card but Barbara had no idea what to choose and sighed.

"Trust me?" he asked and Barbara lowered the card. Thomas ordered for both.

When they waited for the starters they occasionally sipped at their wines, stared out of the window or smiled at each other but didn't talk much. Barbara still was feeling uneasy in that elegant surroundings and she really hated that worm of a waiter who left his place at the entrance to attend _his Lordship_.

She didn't motion when he brought the wine, she inspected the harbour intensely through the window when he brought the cutlery and she was over-busy with putting the serviette on her lap when he brought an amuse-gueule.

Thomas noticed it.

"Young man!?" he adressed the not-so-young waiter.

"Yes, Lord Asherton?"

"We really don't need to receive special treatment, Sir, and we affect not to keep you from your important duty at the entrance." Thomas smiled in a way that was comparable with Barbara's syrupy simper and that left no room to misunderstand him. "We content ourselves with being attended by your colleague, that delightful young lady that is normally responsible for this area."

"Just as you wish, Sir." the waiter said with a wry smile and with an adumbrated bow he exited.

"Just as you wish, Sir." Barbara aped him and muttered "...bloody bootlicker!"

Thomas smiled. "He is. And he's just doing his job, you Grumpy."

"Yes. Now. At the entrance. Keeping the ragtag and bobtail out of his fine house."

The young colleague now served the starters with a shy smile.

"I appreciate how you verbally kicked him in his ass."

"But even if you think, and you know you are alone in this opinion, that you don't fit in this restaurant you don't have to underline your imaginary difference by swearing. As much as I agree with your names for him." Thomas said with a wink.

"Sorry." Barbara blushed and ate silently.

_He's right,_ she thought. _I really am narky on those occasions. Bullsh..._

"I'm sorry." she repeated as if she said it aloud.

"Well, that pale bleeder didn't hear it, did he." Thomas grinned and made Barbara chuckle.

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><p>With that being clarified and with the over-officious waiter out of the way the further conversation was much more easier. They both picked samples from the other's dishes and lightly talked about the multiple attractions of St. Ives.<p>

"There is for example the Barbara Hepworth Museum or the famous Tate Gallery."

"Mhm..."

"You don't have to be deeply interested in arts to wander hand in hand through huge rooms and look at-"

"...things?" Barbara chuckled.

"Naaah." Thomas shook his head. "When the weather's fine I'll take you to the Sculpture Garden. No backtalk! There are enough corners to have a smooching." He grinned.

Barbara couldn't backtalk, she had a mouthful of cod and besides she agreed in the smooching.

"Or we just stroll through the streets, buy some souvenirs, some fudge, or some art objects..."

"...to stuff them in my tiny flat..."

Thomas raised one eyebrow and dipped a chunk of bread in the gravy.

Barbara told him that she heard of the Chapel of St. Nicholas on top of the peninsula in the north.

"You want to pray?" Thomas grinned.

"No, but it might be worth a walk."

"St. Ives has four beaches." Thomas suggested.

"You want to dive again?" Barbara blushed a little.

"Good idea!" Thomas started to play footsie.

"Stop that!" Barbara hissed with a sideglance into the restaurant.

Thomas giggled.

"Or we simply keep ourselves warm and cosy in the cottage, make some love, watch some telly, make some love, go to the coop and buy some food, make some love, let some fish'n'chips be delivered, make some love, ..."

"Thomas!" Barbara said sharply and blushed to the roots of her hair.

"What?" Thomas suggestively grinned. "It's what we're here for, isn't it."

"I thought we are here so I don't have to join that posh party."

The waitress took the empty plates and had surely heard that last remark. Barbara smiled at her. "Thank you."

And to Thomas: "We really can go for a walk, this village is too nice to be ignored."

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><p>The waitress was now out of earshot.<p>

"And make love afterwards?" Thomas took Barbara's hand. "When we're back at the Met we might be too busy again. I want to savour every second I have here alone with you and no sister and no friends and no colleagues and above all with no work around." He placed a kiss on her hand. "Time is short. This cornish dream will _at the latest_ end on the second of January when we're back at the Yard."

Barbara sadly looked out of the window.

"We'll have to talk about it." she mumbles. "'bout how we'll act concerning..." she shyly screwed up her napkin on the table. "...this..."

Thomas waited for her finding the right words though he already knew what she meant.

Barbara cleared her throat. "Our affair."

"Is it an affair?" Thomas asked.

Barbara shook her head. "Mmmh – what is it, then?"

"I'd call it a ... wonderful relationship." He took a deep breath and traced the bonelines on the back of her hands with his fingertips. "And it's not just the sexual part that I feel blessed with." he whispered.

"I'm afraid of the reality back in London." Barbara caressed his tracing finger with her own.

"So am I."

They lingered a while in their own thoughts, gently touching.

"But didn't we cope well with it since that... argue?" Thomas continued.

"We did. But we were busy. Very busy."

"Indeed."

"And at that time we had not yet..."

"Hmmm." Thomas smiled enamoured. "Indeed."

"Will we keep it a secret?"

"At first? Would be better, you think?"

"Straight chain of command, Sir."

Thomas smiled about that _Sir_. "You're right... Havers." It was the most affectionate _Havers_ Barbara had ever heard.

"You better not say it this way in the office, _Sir_." she breathed.

"I call you whatever I wish in my office, _Havers_." They drowned in each others eyes.

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><p>"Back to topic, Sir." Barbara said huskily. "We'll keep it a secret?"<p>

"As long as you wish, love."

"I don't want to be seperated and relegated to another DI." There was a hint of panic in her words.

"Why would they? We're the best team of all the Met."

"You know that the Chief Super lurks and when an opportunity like this comes up... She'll send me off to the middle of nowhere as fast as lightning."

"She'll probably do this." A flash of memory crossed Thomas' mind. Isabelle sure would take it personally.

"How long will we hide?" Barbara asked gloomily.

"I hate that." Thomas huffed and squeezed her hand.

Barbara nodded. She felt tears coming up. _It isn't fair!_ she thought.

"I'll talk to Hillier. He won't separate us. We'll keep it a secret for a while and..."

"How long?" Barbara asked again.

Thomas shrugged. "At least one major case, I think. Or two? To prove we're able to work together unaffected by our personal relationship."

They looked at each other in disbelief how they talked about _this matter_.

"It's ridiculous." Thomas growled. "I haven't been able to act normal in your presence for the past year until Tuesday last week and now that we've sorted it out we should be seperated for their fear of us being a couple and thus not able to work together? No!" He snorted. "It's ridiculous!"

Barbara had stopped listening since "_the past year_".

"One year?" she asked unbelievingly.

"Hm? Or more..." Thomas slightly reddened and looked at their intertwined fingers.

Barbara just smiled. Thomas nearly never blushed and it warmed her heart. On one hand she was afraid of all that, on the other hand so many formerly spread pieces fell easily into line.

"How long did _you_ know... feel that way?" he asked.

"Ah..." she made a wiping gesture. Then she blushed and looked out of the window. She couldn't tell him that she fell for him many years ago. She couldn't admit that she had a crush on him since right after their first case. And certainly not that she even was jealous of Helen.

"That long?"

Barbara just nodded.

"Was I that blind?"

Barbara shrugged. "I'm good at hiding." She still wasn't able to look in his eyes and played with his signet ring.

Thomas added one and one. Some flashes of memory crossed his mind and he came to the conclusion that Barbara must already have had a crush on him – or more – when Helen still was alive though he would never dare to broach that topic. Sure, Barbara had always been around him. She had supported him when Helen was away and also when she came back and even more when Helen died. Barbara had indulged his every whim, when not even Simon endured him or his mother's nerves with him were raw. Thomas was overpowered by a sudden feeling of deep love for that spiky little red-haired woman across the table.

"I love you!" he breathed with tear-dimmed eyes.

And after some moments deeply looking at each other he called the waitress.

"The bill please!"

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><p>.<p>

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><p>...<p> 


	4. Another serious question

**Author's notes:** Looking at the timetable I made, I was kind of shocked that we've just witnessed a few days. It's 11 since that argue in his office, most of them were stuffed with policework (and not really described in the stories) and only 3 were those intensive ones recently spent in Cornwall. So I was thinking about an explanation why Lynley and Havers act like they know each other for years. Well, it's very simple - it _is_ that they _do_ know each other for years. So it's normal to skip the most of the _getting to know_ because they already know and it's not too odd to be discussing very intimate topics. Don't know how it came to the following one, it just crossed my mind. Sorry.

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><p>.<p>

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><p>Thomas payed, helped Barbara on with her coat and with a single nod to the waiter at the entrance they left.<p>

Outside it was pretty cold. Barbara stuffed her hands deep in her pocktes. The wind had blown away all clouds so now the stars were visible but it was also freezingly cold. Unlike Thomas she hadn't put on gloves. Thomas put his arm around Barbaras shoulder while they slowly walked up the Wharf Road, along the harbour, back to the cottage. It was high tide and due to the still blowing wind the water splashed loudly against the harbour wall to their right. For a short while they remained silent.

_Gosh, I'm so happy._ Barbara thought. The part of her brain that still couldn't believe all this was getting lower and didn't permanently remind her of the incredibility of the past three days anymore. But it still was somewhere in the back. She huddled closer into Thomas' side and it was not just about the temperature. Flashes of the conversation at the _Kernow_ went through her head. _He seems to take it seriously, all this._ She nearly could feel the little emerald around her neck pinching her. As if he had read her mind, Thomas squeezed her shoulder.

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><p>After a few more seconds he started to talk.<p>

"I... umm...there's something I'd like to talk about."

In an instant Barbara strained every nerve.

Thomas stopped, moved her against the railing of the harbour basin and put both hands on her hips.

"It's..." he started. "We..."

Thomas Lynley obviously couldn't find the right words and that was so cute it made Barbara forget about the fear of what might follow and she chuckled.

"We what?" she asked.

"Damn! Don't laugh! Well, normally I'm not that unthoughtful, I always... with my other... my former... oh, no, how does that sound?" He raked through his hair. "Errm... Usually I..." he deeply inhaled and then looked her straight in the eye. "Barbara, we didn't prevent." Now it was said. He himself didn't know why it wasn't easy for him to talk about that topic, he had used to speak about it openly, but somehow it was different with Barbara. He was afraid he might frighten her.

"As I said, normally I haven't been that unthoughtful, with other women I had... Oh, that still sounds awful."

"But it _is_ that you've _had_ other women."

"Yes, but... It's not that I've had as much as it sounds like."

Barbara looked at his chest, not looking at something in particular. _Now, that depends._ she thought.

"There were some, can we agree on that? I don't care."_ And I don't want to talk about them._

"Barbara." Thomas sighed a little despaired. "But that's not the point. I have to apologize for acting thoughtless. I think, it's..."

"It's okay." Barbara said. "_I _could have noticed it myself. But there's one thing why I didn't – I trust you!"

She looked him deep in his dark eyes and saw his concerns.

She said it again, more quiet, more tender. "I trust you, Thomas."

"And I trust you." he said and leant forward and he held her closer to very caressingly kiss her. When they broke she could clearly see that there was more he wanted to talk about.

"But it's not only prevention of sexual desease I didn't think about. I don't want to make you..." He stopped again and searched for words. Barbara put her hands on his chest.

"It's okay." she said. "Most likely _that_ wouldn't have happened anyway."

Thomas looked at her without understanding.

"You know, when I was shot I had to undergo some surgeries and..."

Thomas whispered a breathless "No, Barbara!"

"Oh, it _is_ possible, but very much unlikely."

"Oh, Barbara, I'm so sorry!" He nearly cried. A thought flashed in his mind. _I'll _never_ be a father._ Thomas immediately cursed himself for being so selfish.

"I'm so sorry, Barbara!" he said again with a tearful voice. "I've never known..."

"Hush! Thomas!" Barbara put a finger gently onto his lips and reassuringly smiled. "I'm okay with it. I might be incomplete down there but I'm still a woman."

"_That_ you are indeed, but..."

"There is no "but", Thomas. It's simply that I'm lacking some parts on one side. I have no problems with that, believe me."

"But..."

"No, Thomas! No! I've overcome that point. And yes, we'd better prevent from now on. It might be unlikely but there's still a chance to receive with the percentage of about..."

Thomas kissed her abruptly. "It's not okay. How do you really feel?"

"I _am_ okay with that. Anyway, I've put having children off the table a very long time ago and it was a long time before I got shot."

"No..."

"To be true, I've put sex off the table a very long time ago." Barbara started to play with the ribbon on the collar of his coat. She thought it very strange to be discussing these things on a harbour railing in the middle of the night and at that time of her relationship.

"That's stupid, Havers! You are a very attractive woman." He nuzzled between her collar and her neck and kissed her there. "You are very attractive."

He breathed onto the naked skin of her neck and then he just put both arms around her and hugged her really close, looking across the water, his chin resting on her head. After a while he quietly asked if she ever wants a baby at all now that she was with him. Barbara admitted that she hadn't yet thought about that and she asked if it wasn't a bit too soon for that kind of question since they'd been together for a mere ten days.

"That's not true. It's been much longer. Truh to be said it's been for about ten _years_."

Barbara mockingly coughed against his chest. "Bollocks!" She stuffed her hands in his coat pockets.

"Umm, well, we've spent nearly every day together, we've travelled together to wherever they wanted us to investigate. We've spent so many nights in your flat or in my house poring over files. In fact we've shared a tiny mobile home, we've shared very intimate conversations while sitting in a car with binoculars on our noses or during other countless similar occasions. I know that you run on coffee, I know that you don't really like getting up early, I know that you hate shopping, I know how you get the ketchup out of its bottle, I know your funny pyjamas. And you've known most parts of my naked body before there even was the glimpse of a forthcoming relationship." He chuckled. "I know that you've peeped whenever and wherever possible."

"Who could blame me? You're a handsome poshy." Barbara murmured against his chest.

"I do my very best." Thomas admitted.

"You started to workout."

"Hmmm, you've recognised?"

"Yes. I've recognised your delicate bum." Barbara was glad that in the darkness he couldn't see her blushing. "And I feel very certain that your biceps hadn't always been that strong."

Thomas squeezed her and pressed a funny sound out of her.

"Stop that, you brute!"

Thomas kissed her on the top of her head.

"And I know that you know equal stuff about me. You see, we've come to know each other a very long time ago when we still were just colleagues and friends. So I really _am_ of the opinion that a question like that is not too soon right now. So?"

"So? So what?" Barbara knew exactly what he had meant but she stalled for time. It was the truth when she said she'd given up the thought of raising a family but some days ago everything in her life had turned different. Barbara sighed and bumped her forehead onto his chest. She couldn't answer his question because she hadn't yet really dared to think about that possibility. Actually, having a baby _may_ be a possible scenario now that she was with Thomas.

"Do you ever want a baby?" Thomas asked again.

"...don't know." Barbara murmured.

* * *

><p>They still stood there at the harbour railing and huddled. Barbara had her hands in his coat pockets and her head against his chest, Thomas still had his arms wrapped around her and his chin laid on top of her head.<p>

He thought about his fears when Helen was pregnant and when he had started to accept it and then even to look forward to the baby. And now everything had come the other way. He was nearly 41, a widower and still childless. He himself had tried not to think too frequently of that topic, partly because it still hurt him a bit. The loss still hurt and it wasn't the thing with having no heir but you need two persons for that and it hadn't been one of the women he had met after Helen died. Now that he had realised that Barbara indeed was this person, the baby question was on top again. He also recognised that his question indeed must have frightened Barbara. _She's right. It really is no good behaviour to ask something like this at _that_ state of our relationship._

Barbara surprised him by saying "Well, not now, but I think yes..." against his chest.

She had thought about his question. A part of her had told her of the stupidity, the differences and the impossibility that this would be a longlasting relationship with his Lordship. Another part of her had reminded her of the other impossibility, that one that rooted in the surgeries after the shot. She had tucked away her hopes, just so she won't be getting frustrated if the remaining percentage also fails. And if she pretended to have no interest in a child, there will be no need to check if it was possible at all, thus there will be no disappointment if not. But now this didn't work anymore. And besides, one part grew louder. It was the fairy part that said that this man who right at that moment was holding her in his strong arms and gently swayed her was the one with whom she actually should stay forever and ever and raise a family and _now piss off with your bloody concerns about the differences_. Coming to that point she had answered his question.

Thomas deeply inhaled.

"It's getting freezy, isn't it." he huskily said. "Let's go home."

* * *

><p>.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note 2:<strong> I'm still giggling about Barbara's last thought. I nearly wanted to name the chapter _Piss off_. Would be naughty so it's a different title - naughty we'll be next time ;-) Did I mention that I love to have them discuss serious matters and always divert into some gentle teasing?


	5. Luckily it is warm inside the cottage

**Author's note:** Thank you all for following and especially for your reviews! And please keep your eyes open, the next chapter always could be another seperate story ;-)

But here, up next, pure lust!

I warned you. Don't say I didn't! My advice: Do not read this at work nor when you are surrounded by strangers ;-D

* * *

><p><em>Der Worte sind genug gewechselt, Laßt mich auch endlich Thaten sehn...<em>

(J. W. v. Goethe ; Faust, Pt.1; adapted: _The words you've bandied are sufficient; 'Tis deeds that I prefer to see..._)

Luckily it is warm inside the cottage...

* * *

><p>.<p>

* * *

><p>Hand in hand they walked up the small alley back to the cottage. Here and there they stopped and kissed.<p>

Barbara still had the keys and so she opened the doors.

"Come on in!" she said winking. _And I mean it!_

Once inside Thomas helped her off with the coat and put both coats on the hook at the door. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that Barbara bent down to open her shoes. By doing so she presented her bum to him. He playfully clapped it before he opened his own shoes.

Without a word and without looking back Barbara went up the stairs.

_Follow me!_ she thought. As slowly as she walked she took off her jumper and let it fall right beside her down on the steps. Thomas was paralysed on the spot with one foot on the stairs. Then she slowly took off her T-shirt and let it fall down on the steps on her left side. Now she was only wearing her jeans and her bra. Still aching slowly climbing the stairs she opened the clasp of her bra and got rid of it.

_Here's a toy._ Barbara blushed by her own thought.

She hung her bra on the hand rail from where it slid down to where Thomas still stood and watched her undress. He touched it and smiled.

_She is up to no good!_ he smugly thought.

When she was round the corner of the stairs and out of sight he woke up from hypnosis and hurried up, leaping two stairs at a time and shuffling off his own shirt and jumper.

* * *

><p>Upstairs Barbara stood leaning against the doorframe, facing the bedroom, one hand on her hip and still not turning. In an instant Thomas stood behind her, heavily breathing, pressing his chest against her shoulders embracing her and cupping her breast with one hand. With the other hand he covered her belly.<p>

Right at that moment Barbara's breathing likewise was more than uneven. His hands made her shiver and she pressed her back into his chest. The nipple under his hand went hard and she had goosepimples all over.

Thomas let his left hand's fingertips wander down her belly and start to unbutton her jeans. He breathed onto her neck and gently nibbled at her shoulder. Barbara put her right hand onto his and forced him to knead her breast. Meanwhile her jeans were open and he slid his flat hand into her briefs.

An amazed "Oh!" escaped her mouth when he found the sensitive spot.

_He's up to no good!_ she thought smugly smiling.

Then he kissed his way down her back and pulled her pants with him. While she steps out of them he stroke her thighs and knees. Leaving a moist kiss on her bum he stood up again, now having freed himself from his own pants. Again he pulled her back into his chest.

An equally amazed "Gosh!" escaped her mouth when she felt his arousal pressing into her back. With his hands on her hips and pulling her close to him he gently swayed.

"To the bed!" he hoarsly ordered onto her shoulder and slightly bit her there. "I'm up to no good!"

He followed her inches behind.

* * *

><p>Barbara climbed onto the bed and was given no time to turn and face him. Thomas was over her in an instant and pulled her backside against his groin. He just ground a bit into her, not really entering. He bowed to kiss her back without loosing contact. His hands caressed her waist and her hip, then kneaded her bum. He could feel her grinding back into his groin so he entered her very slowly. She exhaled clearly audible. They rocked three or four moves and then he let go of her again.<p>

_No!_ she thought.

"Turn!" he whispered and Barbara turned.

Thomas positioned Barbara between his legs and bent down to kiss her. Then he laid himself half next to her and half on top of her. They were still kissing deeply. Barbara had put her arms around his neck and Thomas caressed her belly. After a deep look into her eyes that made her melt completely he kissed her chin and her neck. He touched her breast with his fingertips and then kissed her there.

Barbara closed her eyes and bathed in his endearments. She had spread one arm across the bedsheet and with the other hand she gently ruffled through his hair. His kisses left thrilling tickles where they landed. He nibbled and licked and kissed his way to her bellybutton. Then he traced the long scar on her belly with his fingertips, kissing every stitch of it after his touch. While still lingering with his lips on her belly his fingers moved further down between her thighs. His thumb circles round her sensitive spot and it made a moan slip out of Barbara's mouth. The butterflies in her lower regions were in an uproar. She was defenceless and so he spread her legs and placed himself between them. His tongue now followed his thumb. He licked the pink button and slid one finger into her.

"Oh dear!" Barbara sighed in a strained voice.

A second finger went inside her, Thomas' tongue still teasing her outside. Barbara felt the tension rise in her abdomen. She was on the brink and knew that it won't take him long to push her over. When the third finger entered her and all three curled she cringed and cried out. Thomas promptly removed his fingers and slowly kissed his way back to her mouth. When his hip reached hers he entered her again properly and she pushed up to him. Barbara effortlessly struggled to re-catch her breath.

"That feels so good!" he whispered and slowly thrusted in and out without any attempt to increase the pace.

* * *

><p><em>Oh, it does!<em> Barbara pushed him and they rolled around so that now she straddled him. She kissed his lips and started to caress him like he caressed her before. She kissed his chin and his neck. Then she left a lovebite there.

"You didn't...?!" Thomas breathed.

"Yes, I did." Barbara answered smiling onto his neck.

"You evil woman!" Thomas tried to capture her mouth again but Barbara wrenched from him.

"My turn!" she whispered scarcely audible onto his skin and licked at his nipples to afterwards blow on them. It wasn't just the cold that made them harden. She kissed her way further down and let him slip off her.

_No!_ he thought.

She nuzzled on his flat belly and twitched the hair there with her lips. Lustfully she raked her fingers down his side, symmetrically across his thighs and then stroke his arousal. At first just with her fingertips and then with her whole hand. She kissed his knob all the length down, gently bit him there and soothened it with a lick before she kissed her way up again. Digging her fingers into his thighs she licked the top of it, then she took him fully in her mouth and with her tongue continued to play with the top.

With all his might Thomas pulled himself togeher not to press Barbara's head onto him.

He closed his eyes and stiffled a moan. "Hell..." His groin burned with desire.

When he finally grabbed her shoulder forcefully Barbara stopped the torture to give him time to relax again and she meandered back up hovering over his body without touching him. Her breasts barely brushed him slightly and he could just feel her heat radiating over him and her breathing tickling on his skin.

Both were sweating.

* * *

><p>Reaching his mouth again with her lips she lay herself on top of him and kissed him deeply. After a few moments she started to sit up and thereby was gaining more contact with her wet parts onto his arousal. She rocked slowly giving herself support on his chest, her fingers spread. Their eyes were locked. Barbara saw pure lust and a tenderness she wanted to drown in. Thomas spotted that same lust and a somewhat devilish grin.<p>

_You're mine!_ she thought, blushed all over. Fire rushed through her abdomen.

"You're killing me!" he sighed caressing her thighs.

Barbara lowered herself onto his length and Thomas closed his eyes again while she rode him slowly and gloried every second. She wanted this to last for the rest of the night, keeping both at the edge and never letting them fall over. She leant back to have him all inside her and touched herself where their bodies met.

When Thomas became aware of that he replaced her fingers with his. He held her hip with one hand and with the other hand's thumb he pressed slow circles onto the spot. Barbara let her head fall back and she kneaded her breasts. They were panting hard.

Without letting her slip off of him he sat up and buried his face between her neck and her collarbone. Now she sat in his lap and put her legs around him. He orbited the green gem with his tongue. His hands caressed her back and pulled her close to him so he could kiss her breasts. After licking his way slowly across her chest and her neck up to her lips they shared a deep, longing kiss. Barbara could smell salt on his tongue entangling hers. Their abdomens were still connected and still rocking around the climax which neither of them wanted to reach soon.

_Oh, gods, don't let this end!_

* * *

><p>Still inside of her Thomas lifted Barbara, pushed her back and lowered her onto the mattress again. His groin was pressed into her lap rubbing onto the spot. He had his hands rested next to her chest and thus supported his weight.<p>

Barbara uttered a moan. She felt his arousal still growing inside her and her inner muscels started to tighten vibrantly. She pushed up to him.

"Oh, Barbara!" he groaned. In silent accordance they increased their pace and he thrusted more forcefully into her.

She put one hand onto his chest as if she wanted to push him away but she just reached into his chest hair. With her other hand she clasped his biceps. She loved his new muscular upper arms. Barbara bent her legs around the hollows of his knees and pressed her hips up to his to get more friction.

"Thomas!" Barbara erratically moaned. "Please..."

He started to rock her harder. Her contractions brought him to the edge where he tried to hold himself as long as possible but her loud rhythmic panting told him that she herself couldn't hold it very much longer. All his nerves were stretched to keep it back until she was with him. He lowered his pace again.

"No!" Barbara whimpered and grabbed his waist. "Go! On! Give it...!"

Thoughts were off.

He got it. Her begging made him re-increase his speed. He repeatedly thrusted hard into her.

"Oh! God!" he gasped.

She was now moaning in the rhythm of his thrusts. "...yes! ...yes! ...oh!" Every muscle was constricted, every nerve tensed. She was totally focussed on their connection. When she opened her eyes she saw an equal concentrated look on his face and recognised his clenched smile. She knew he held on to give her the most pleasure.

"Let go!" she whispered desperately.

A second after that Barbara squinched her eyes shut and with every muscle strained she explodingly arched against him. Her orgasm took over.

A very shattered smile was on her halfopened lips. It made Thomas loose his control and he thrusted a last time into her, pressing her forcefully into the mattress. He roared loudly when he blew his stack inside her pulsating centre.

"Tom!" she cried out with another wave of orgasm.

* * *

><p>Thomas collapsed onto Barbara. She moaned again with pleasure. Her thrill was only gradually decreasing.<p>

Their bodies were sweating wet and appealingly slippery. They enjoyed that smashed moment. Their feet laid on the pillows and both were totally out of breath. He slid down from her and huddled against her side. He buried his nose between her neck and her collarbone and smilingly hummed a contented "Hmmmm!" against her skin there. He played with the little green gem around her neck.

Barbara was still so thrilled that when he gently touched her lower belly with his fingers she couldn't hold back another moan.

"Easy, baby!" he whispered and left a kiss on her shoulder.

Both didn't want to break the hugging. They were exhausted to the bone. Thinking returned very slowly, if ever. They didn't care that they were laying upside down in the bed nor that the bedroom door was wide open and the light in the corridor still was on.

_I'm completely lost!_ Barbara thought deeply satisfied.

Thomas just put the bed cover over their naked bodies while Barbara was already almost sleeping.

_You're my Baby!_ he thought looking at her tenderly.

He put his arm around her waist and she nearly couldn't hear his last words before she fully fell asleep.

"_My a'th kar_!" he whispered.

* * *

><p>.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> Now, if you'll please excuse me, I need a cold shower before I go to work... ;-D


	6. Snow

**Author's note:** Ooops! The night is not yet over...

* * *

><p>.<p>

* * *

><p>Barbara woke somewhere around four in the night. Thomas was silently snoring into her ear. The bed covers they were wrapped in still were damp and somewhat sticky and it was nastily cold.<p>

"Bloody..." she mumbled.

The door was still open and the lights outside still on. She freed herself from Thomas' embracing arms, slipped off the bed and swooped for her T-shirt on the stairs. Then she scuttered to the loo.

When she came back the lights were off and a sky-clad Thomas stood there in the dark, looking out of the window. Barbara ogled at his bum cheeks and smiled.

_Well, the work out has its justification._ she thought smugly. She closed the door to keep some warmth inside the room then she flitted to him.

"Hey!" Barbara huddled into his back encircling his waist with her arms.

"Look, it's snowing!" he said enthralled. He pulled her off his back to his front and to the window. "_Finally_ we have a white Christmas in Cornwall!" his boyish excitement was infectious.

Barbara looked out of the window and watched some soft fall of snow. The cobblestones in the streets and the surrounding roofs were iced with an ethereal thin layer of white. It looked lovely but Barbara started to freeze.

"Thomas, it's cold!" He just wrapped her in his arms and made no move to get back into the bed.

"And we should change the wet sheets." Barbara giggled nervously.

Ignoring her he swayed dreamily. "I remember one night I saw it snowing in Cornwall in... I don't know, I was 15 or so and at home for Christmas holidays. Something made me wake up and I went down to get me a glass of... must've been milk, I guess." Thomas chuckled. He started to absentmindedly stroke Barbara's belly under her T-shirt. It tickled on her skin.

"Ophelia, my sisters' pug, went with me and we stood at the terrace door marvelling outside. Phelie wanted a walk and so we got out. I've even built a one foot tall snowman. Sadly next morning all snow was gone."

He placed a kiss on Barbara's shoulder. She shivered and it was not for the coldness.

"Thomas, will you please stop that." she whispered.

"What?" Thomas hadn't been aware of his own endearments.

"And we'd better put fresh linen on the bed _now_."

"Oh, that can wait." He had just recognised that she had no knickers on and pulled her T-shirt some inches up.

The touch of her naked bum onto his groin awoke his desire for more.

_I'm nearly 41 and feel more randy than ever._ he wondered to himself.

"Don't do that!" Barbara sighed.

"What?" he asked mocking innocently. Now he was clearly aware what he was doing and what she was meaning. He placed a kiss on her neck.

"Turn!" he ordered gently.

"Thomas, we're in the window." she said reproachfully. "Everybody could see us here. I'm _not_ going to turn!"

"Everybody is asleep. Nobody could see us here. Now turn!" His hands massaged her upper thighs while he was gnawing at her neck. Barbara straightened herself. Though she felt observed she also felt the pleasure creeping up her spine.

_We're grown-ups and shouldn't be shagging wherever we are._ she thought blushing.

Thomas slowly moved himself from side to side, thus very lightly touching her with his length.

It made Barbara sharply inhale.

"Stop it!" she croaked. Meanwhile her body spoke different.

"No. Turn." he continued his moving and bit tenderly in her shoulder.

"Ouch!" Barbara moaned with pleasure. "We can not again... Here... We shouldn't..." her voice trailed off and she steadied herself grabbing the window frame.

"Yes, we should." Between every aspirated word he placed a kiss onto the skin next to her ear. "Again. Now. Here."

"I want you, Barbara." Thomas moaned onto the spot where he bit her and blew hot breath through the cloth of her T-shirt.

"Now turn. Around."

"We're goin' to have really sore muscles tomorrow. So please stop it." she soundlessly breathed. Her words truly didn't reflect her wanting. She already had given up.

"Yes, definitely _that_." Thomas roared. "And if you don't turn around right _now_, I'll enter you from behind."

His teeth once again gently dug into the flesh in the back of her neck. His hands skimmed over her thighs to her front. With his fingers he gently pushed them apart while his thumbs were rubbing her wet center. He gently moved his arousal between her legs. "I mean it."

"Thomas!" Barbara squeaked and turned at last.

"There you are." he mumbled contentedly and lowered his head to kiss her deeply, pressing his hips into hers. Their tongues played their beloved game.

* * *

><p>His fingers spanned her waist and he easily lifted her onto the small windowsill.<p>

_Now the work out has its justification._ he thought smugly.

Barbara put her arms around his neck, buried her hands in his hair and lost herself in the contact. She freely opened her legs to Thomas urging between them and he came close without breaking the kiss. She could feel the pressure of his arousal onto her hot spot.

Thomas wrapped his arms around her waist and placed his hands under the cheeks of her bum to pull her closer to him.

Then with a firm push he entered her and exhaled loudly into her mouth.

Barbara moaned and coiled her legs round his. She grabbed his upper arms to keep herself from bumping against the pane in their rocking rhythm.

This time it won't last long.

"Barbara, I..." Thomas said hoarsely and buried his face on her shoulder. He knew he couldn't hold it back as long as he did before. His fingers dug into her bum, tighter with every thrust he made.

She enjoyed every one of those thrusts, letting go a pant with it, one louder and sharper than the other. Though she wasn't yet perfectly on his level her inner muscles tightened around him.

Finally this pushed him over and he squeezed her bum tight and pressed her against him when he came.

He let his head fall back and groaned in his relief.

"Oh, my..." Barbara moaned restrained. A second after that she fell apart with her own orgasm. Her legs pulled at him and her hips pushed forward.

She let her head bump back at the pane when she arched against Thomas.

She cried out "...god! Tom!"

* * *

><p>They slowly calmed down and eventually disconnected their lower regions.<p>

"Oh, Baby, I _love_ to hear you scream my name!" Thomas whispered moaning onto Barbara's lips.

She giggled girlishly. "We haven't just screwed in the window, have we."

Nervously she bit her lower lip. In the dark he couldn't see her reddening.

"Nothin' bad about it, hm?!" he grinned. "And the pane is fogged so nobody could have seen us."

With his finger he traced a heart in the condensed steam.

Barbara turned to see that the center where she had leant was clear.

"Oh, you..." she jumped away from the window. "I'll take a shower. You'll change the linen." she ordered and rushed into the bathroom.

"I'll come with you." he rejoiced but Barbara locked the door.

"You could shower afterwards." she said through the door. "Now you change the linen."

* * *

><p>Barbara was glad to let some hot water flow over her exhausted body. She just stood there and thought about her newly awaken sexual life. Thomas seemed to be wanting her wherever she stood or sat or walked or whatever she did wherever she was. And always she immediately responded to him. That desire was something she wasn't used to. She also wasn't used to that tenderness he showed. She wasn't used to be loved properly anyway and that's apparently what Thomas did. Her <em>Lord DI<em> apparently loved her.

She smiled at that thought. He loved her without thinking.

_And we didn't prevent!_ Suddenly Barbara was alarmed and quickly counted her monthly cycle but everything was on the safe side. Even though she didn't expect difficulties she thought it better to be sure.

_I have to buy some condoms tomorrow._ she decided. _Now, _that_ would be awkward._

* * *

><p>Thomas had turned on the little lamps next to the bed. He started to change the bed sheets with a smile on his lips. Somehow he wondered at himself to be such a lecherous person. He never had been so sexually active like he was with Barbara and additionally so deep in love. He thought about Barbara under the shower and actually he preferred to be there with her.<p>

_I can't be wanting to make love to her wherever she was._ he scolded himself. _And _think_, Tommy! Again you didn't spare a thought about prevention, you _idiot_!_

He placed the second freshly made pillow on the fresh sheet and opened one corner of the duvet. Then he started to rummage his bag for the pack of condoms he already had bought in London.

Thomas placed one of them on the pillow when he heard the key turning in the bathroom-door.

* * *

><p>Barbara came into the bedroom with nothing on but a towel. Something in Thomas' groin immediately started to stir again. She could tell from the look in his eyes.<p>

"Don't ever _think_ about it, Thomas!" she said blushing. "You'll take a shower and I'll go to sleep."

Thomas grinned so smugly when he went by her. "Yes, Ma'am."

"Keep your hands off, you bad boy!" Barbara warned him.

He held up his hands and disappeared in the bathroom.

She did not change into her pyjama until she heard the water flowing. Now being properly dressed for the night she wiped the window with the towel to be able to look out again. The thin layer of white still was there but sadly it wasn't snowing anymore. She supposed it all be gone the next morning.

Returning to the bed she found the condom and blushed.

_Who'd have thought, he's not totally mindless!_ Barbara smiled and slipped under the duvet holding the condom in her hand. After a horrified look onto the alarmclock she turned off the lamp on her side of the bed. She was immensely glad that they both had time to sleep late.

_And we need it._ Barbara giggled when Thomas returned. He didn't even bother to put a towel around his hips and exposed his bum cheeks when he got a T-shirt and some boxers out of the wardrobe.

"Do I really have to wear these?" he whiningly asked.

Instead of answering Barbara threw the condom against his chest and laughed.

"Good night, Thomas!"

"Oh, it's this I have to wear?" He truly intended the frivolity in his words.

"Not now." Barbara yawned. "Let me get some sleep."

Thomas put the clothes on, rushed under the duvet next to Barbara and moved closer.

"May I fumble?" he hopefully teased her placing a hand on her hips.

"Not now." she answered sleepily and without opening her eyes she responded to the gentle goodnight kiss he gave her.

"Sleep well, Baby." he whispered.

"Likewise." she mumbled already half asleep.

* * *

><p>.<p>

* * *

><p>...<p> 


End file.
